Andrew Lansley: it is inaccurate to claim sugar is as undesirable as smoking

”You cannot basically slash the sugar in meals otherwise individuals simply will not accept it. That is what they are searching for. I don’t consider it is aided by what I think are inaccurate analogies. I just don’t feel the analogy between sugar and tobacco is an acceptable a single.

”I think we have to realize that sugar is an vital element of food, it truly is just that sugar in extra in an inappropriate and unhelpful diet plan.”

Mr Lansley produced his remarks as a group of well being authorities launched a campaign to lessen the amount of sugar added to food and soft drinks as portion of an energy to reverse the UK’s weight problems and diabetes crisis.

Action on Sugar – modelled on the successful Consensus Action on Salt and Well being (Money) – aims to help the public stay away from items ”full of hidden sugars” and encourage makers to decrease the ingredient more than time.

It says youngsters are a particularly vulnerable group who are targeted by marketers of calorie-dense snacks and sugar-sweetened soft drinks.

Earlier, Professor Simon Capewell, an skilled in clinical epidemiology at the University of Liverpool who is top the campaign, explained obesity and diabetes were currently costing the Uk far more than £5 billion a yr.

He explained: ”Sugar is the new tobacco. All over the place, sugary drinks and junk food items are now pressed on unsuspecting mothers and fathers and kids by a cynical market focussed on revenue not overall health.

”The weight problems epidemic is previously producing a enormous burden of ailment and death. Weight problems and diabetes previously charges the United kingdom above £5 billion each 12 months. With no regulation, these fees will exceed £50 billion by 2050.”

Like Income, Action on Sugar will set targets for the food sector to add much less sugar to merchandise more than time so that consumers do not recognize the variation in taste.

It claims that the food business would very easily achieve a twenty% to thirty% reduction in the amount of sugar added to items, which it says would consequence in a reduction of roughly 100kcal per day or a lot more in those who are notably susceptible to obesity.

It says the reduction could reverse or halt the weight problems epidemic and would also have a significant effect in minimizing persistent condition and claims the programme ”is useful, will work and will value really little”.

The group listed flavoured water, sports drinks, yoghurts, ketchup, prepared meals and even bread as just a couple of every day foods that include huge amounts of sugar.

Advisers to the group consist of Professor Robert Lustig, of the paediatric endocrinology department at the University Of California, and Assistant Professor Yoni Freedhoff from the University of Ottawa.

But Dr Victoria Burley, a senior lecturer in Nutrional Epidemiology at Leeds University, mentioned the group’s claims had been alarmist and misleading.

She explained: “It is nuts to declare that sugar is as hazardous as alcohol. It’s total hyperbole, quite crazy.

“The epidemiology for smoking triggering cancer is strong. You can search at figures and see that a single quarter of cancer deaths are linked to smoking, that is some thing like 43,000 deaths a yr.

“There is undoubtedly evidence that weight problems is linked to cancer and coronary heart condition but there is tiny proof that there is a causal hyperlink in between sugar and weight problems.

“So you can’t say with any certainty that sugar is a lead to of death. It’s really hard to perform out how much sugar people are eating for 1 factor. Several people are not conscious of their sugar intake or lie about it.

Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at Glasgow University, additional: “There is certainly proof that obesity is linked to cancer and coronary heart illness but there is minor proof that there is a causal website link between sugar and obesity.

“So you can not say with any certainty that sugar is a lead to of death. It’s extremely difficult to operate out how considerably sugar men and women are eating for a single factor. A lot of people aren’t conscious of their sugar consumption or lie about it.

Andrew Lansley: it is inaccurate to claim sugar is as undesirable as smoking